The Start Of Something Good
by UnwieldyInk
Summary: Solangelo Week- Day 4- Free day/AU day / Based on a prompt from a tumblr post: "You're the only other person in the theatre in this movie because my date ditched me, so why not sit together?"


Will sunk further down into his seat as the lights dimmed. He checked his phone again. No new texts. He was supposed to meet a blind date here to see the movie, but the guy never showed up. Their tickets were separate, so Will had just texted that he was at the theater, gotten snacks, and then sat down to wait. But he'd been waiting for almost twenty minutes.

Finally, a message popped up on his phone screen. But it wasn't one Will was thrilled about. _Sorry, can't come, something came up._ Will was about to demand his date tell him what 'came up', but then the movie screen lit up with: "Please silence your cell phones now." Will scowled and put his phone away, deciding it wasn't worth it. He was gonna watch this movie and he was gonna enjoy it, no matter what Joshua or whatever his name was said.

Except, then he noticed something odd. The theater around him was completely empty, save for one guy in the row in front of him, sitting right in the middle. As a trailer for some new action movie played, Will stood up and walked over to the guy.

"Man, is this movie that bad?" He asked. The boy, who Will could now see was around his age, glanced up at him, startled. Will gave him a small smile. "I mean, there has to be some reason why the theater is empty."

The boy shrugged. "I've already seen it. It's pretty good."

"You've already seen it? Then why are you here again?"

He shook his head defensively. "I don't know. I've got nothing better to do, I guess." He glanced back at Will. "What about you, then?"

Will held up his phone. "Was supposed to be on a date. No-show."

The guy sucked in air through his teeth. "That sucks."

"Yeah."

Will sighed, and turned around to go back to his seat, when the boy said: "Uh."

He turned back around. "Yeah?"

"Since we're the only people here… I mean, it's just kind of awkward to sit twenty feet apart from each other. Do you wanna move up here? They're the best seats in the house."

"Oh. Yeah, okay. Yeah!" Will quickly grabbed his snacks and hopped into the row in front of him, easing own into the seat next to the boy. "My name's Will, by the way."

"Nico."

"Nice to meet you, Nico."

"Likewise." Nico smiled. The lights dimmed down all the way, and both of their gazes snapped to the screen.

.

.

Will stretched upwards as the credits rolled. "You're right," he said to Nico. "That was awesome. I have no idea why the theater is so empty."

Nico shrugged, standing up and collecting his trash. Will was about to follow suit, but remembered why he'd been here in the first place. He checked his phone. His date hadn't bothered to text again. Will rolled his eyes, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

"Hey," he said to Nico. "I now have a few extra hours and nothing to do, do you want to grab lunch with me?"

Nico gave him a weird look. "Uh, s-sure."

Will stood up. "What was that look about? You can just say so if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that, I just- didn't expect you to want to hang out with someone like… me."

Will tilted his head. "What, because you're emo?" Nico started spluttering.

"N-No! I just- I've been told I don't look that friendly."

Will nodded. "So, because you're emo, then." Nico moved to speak, but Will held up a hand to stop him. "No, no, it's okay! I like emo people! My friend Lou is the most emo, even if she'll never admit it-"

"I'm not emo!" Nico interrupted. Will smiled.

"Aw, bless your heart."

"I'm not!"

Will laughed. "Whatever you say. Now let's go get lunch, I'm starving."

Rain was pouring down outside, so Will held his coat over his head as they ran across the street. Nico gestured at a sandwich shop, and Will nodded quickly. They both dashed inside.

Nico shook his head like a dog, and water flew off of it. Will, who was wringing out his coat, yelped in surprise when the water sprayed him. "Hey!"

Nico looked up. "Oh, sorry." He was panting from the run. So was Will.

Will laughed and shook his head. "It's fine." Nico smiled back at him.

They quickly ordered and took a table by the window. Perched on the tall stools and looking out of the fogged-up window, Will had a moment to reflect on who he'd ended up spending time with.

Nico seemed nice. Maybe a little shy, but nice. He had good taste in movies. He had a sister, Will learned.

Oh, and he was gorgeous. That was definitely a plus. Will smiled as he watched Nico's dark, intense eyes dart around. His two-toned face looked like it was etched in marble, dark eyes and hair contrasting against olive skin and casting shadows over the creases of his face. He even had long eyelashes and high cheekbones to match.

Nico looked up and caught Will staring, which caused him to turn away quickly. Will busied himself with his sandwich idly, trying to think of something to say when the conversation lulled.

"So," he finally said, "This sister you mentioned?"

"Yeah. Hazel."

"How is she?"

"Well…"

Over the next two hours, Will talked and listened and became more and more fascinated by this boy he'd run into by chance. He learned that Hazel was Nico's half sister, that they lived with their friend Percy, and that Nico liked to draw. Will asked to see some of Nico's art and was left astounded.

In return, he told Nico about his own family, about his annoying friends, about his vaguely embarrassing obsession with Marvel. Nico was a good listener, nodding along and only interjecting to ask questions. By the end of it, Will never wanted to spend time with anyone else ever again.

But their meal was long since finished, and Will's phone was blowing up with texts asking where he was, so eventually, he had to leave. Before he did, though, he gave Nico his number.

"We should hang out again," he said.

"Yeah," Nico agreed with a smile. "We should."

.

.

Will didn't go on any other dates.

It had been two weeks since he met Nico, and the dating app on his phone sat unused, any messages from it unopened.

His attention was focused elsewhere.

He and Nico did indeed hang out again. Several times, in fact. When Will met Hazel, she joked that she'd never seen Nico go out with friends as much as he had when he met Will. At least, Will thought she was joking.

Part of him hoped that she wasn't. Part of him hoped it meant something.

All of him hoped that Nico liked him. But he couldn't be sure.

He couldn't be sure, that was, until one day when they were sitting side by side on a bench in the park, and Nico's hand silently slipped into Will's. As their fingers interlocked, Will smiled.

This, he thought, was the start of something good.


End file.
